No future NBA stars? No problem for Louisville

11:40 PM,
Mar. 28, 2013

Gorgui Dieng is one of a few Cardinals with NBA prospects.

Written by

Dan Wolken
USA TODAY Sports

For as consistently as the NCAA tournament delivers underdogs and storylines, national champions in the modern era have been shaped by a theory that works almost entirely in contrast: To win it all, a college basketball team has to have at least three future NBA players.

But No. 1-ranked Louisville enters the Midwest Regional semifinals tonight as a potential antidote to that premise, which has been overwhelmingly accurate over the past 20 years. Though the Cardinals are favored both by seeding and Las Vegas odds to cut down the nets in Atlanta on April 8, Rick Pitino has gotten here by ...